Comments on: Nokia SU-8W Bluetooth Keyboard Mini-Review

By: Vladimir

Vladimir — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:10:53 +0000

When I bought the Nokia SU-8W keyboard I was so happy. But this happines ended very soon. First of all there is no fixator in the keyboard and it is very inconvenient.
Then after about 2 month of rare use, I noticed that some keys on a left side of the keyboard do not work at all. My conclusion this keyboard is piece of crap. Do not buy!

By: Jesper

Jesper — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:07:51 +0000

Indeed, the SU-8W is a very nice companion for the N800. I’ve used this setup a lot, as it makes it a lot faster to chat and code (once you’ve gotten used to the funny Fn-key). It’s also possible to use it on one lap at a time (as opposed to laying it across both of your laps), though it’s a bit of a balancing act. The N800 has keyboard shortcuts for most tasks, so you actually rarely need to tap the display.

Unfortunately my SU-8W has stopped behaving properly. Sometimes the keys along the left side of the fold just don’t work. And just now, the combined Tab-and-Escape button has stopped working, robbing me of my much-needed tab completion, not to mention my command-mode in vim! I suppose a non-folding keyboard would be more sturdy in the long run. Maybe a Frogpad would work?

By: basitj

basitj — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:37:06 +0000

I tell you what David, You are right. It has a cable that got busted for me.

Yeah, its an interesting device, but my keyboard stopped behaving 2 weeks after I purchased it. The left half of the keyboard is not working now. I took it to local nokia repairs but they dont know heck about the keyboards. All they know are the handsets and their repair. I believe thats a big negative about the device.

By the way, if anyone of you have one of this broken keyboard, I may need some parts from you (possibly a cable) so that my half of the keyboard starts working.

By: Hanno Zulla

Hanno Zulla — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:31:11 +0000

@David:

“How is the electrical connection made between the halves of the keyboard?”

I have no idea. Looks pretty solid to me, but I didn’t open the case to have a look.

By: David Hagood

David Hagood — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:26:38 +0000

How is the electrical connection made between the halves of the keyboard?

I ask because I had (note the verb tense) a Stowaway keyboard, but it died when the flex cable connecting the two halves failed – and the “cable” was nothing more than an extension of the keyboard circuit “board” itself, so there was no way to fix it. I now have a very expensive paperweight.

Begin rant:
“Flex” cables are not really designed to flex continually. They are designed to flex ONCE, during device assembly. Any flexing after that is at your own risk, ESPECIALLY if the radius of the curve is not very carefully controlled.
End rant:

I’ve been trying to find a store somewhere here in the middle of the US that carries the Nokia keyboard, so that I can evaluate it myself.

By: Lars Knudsen

Lars Knudsen — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:55:42 +0000

Hi,

nice review! It would be even nicer if they had included a lock for the keyboard though.

- I just got myself one of the new Apple Wireless keyboards, which works perfectly with the N800 (except for the key mappings – how do I change the mappings in the N800 for HW keyboard… ne1? ). The keyboard is light/small enough to be thrown in the suitcase on travels yet still solid enough for heavy coding (which I doubt the SU-8W will ever be ).

- Lars